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Australian Satellites and Where to Find Them: Professor Iver Cairns

Tuesday, 15 August 2017 from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm (AEST)

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Event Details

Celebrate National Science Week with us at The Shine Dome!

About the speaker

Professor Iver Cairns is Professor in Space Physics at the University of Sydney. His primary interests are in explaining the fundamental, widely applicable, plasma physics of radio emissions from the sun and using this understanding to predict whether space weather should occur at Earth. As former Chair of the Australian Academy of Science's National Committee for Space Science, he led the development of Australia's first Decadal Plan for Australian space science, published by the Academy in 2010. Professor Cairns is also leader of the three-university INSPIRE-2 CubeSat, part of the European-led QB50 project to probe Earth's ionosphere and upper atmosphere with a constellation of 50 CubeSats, scheduled for launch in 2017.

About the talk

Head to the iconic Shine Dome to hear about the growing Australian space industry from Professor Iver Cairns. He’ll describe the revolution of satellites and space research thriving across the country.

By the end of 2017 we’re set to have at least four Australian-built satellites in space, and all as small as a loaf of bread. These will be Australia's first satellites in space for 16 years in a collaboration between Australian universities, defence, government and international companies looking to feed our satellite dependent economy.

As one of the only countries in the OECD not to have its own space agency, there are many fighting for Australia to step up in the $250 billion international space industry. Some estimates indicate the Australian sector is already worth up to $4 billion a year, employing around 11,000 people in areas such as space science, defence, commercial start-ups, agriculture, weather and disaster monitoring.

A recent review of Australian Space capabilities found that commercialisation of space activities is being driven by consumers for things like satellite broadband, and navigation/positioning technologies, such as GPS-enabled applications. Over 30 Australian ‘space’ start-up companies formed in 2016 that are already raising over $15 million in funding.

Join Professor Iver Cairns at this public event in Canberra. The last #Spacedawn event SOLD OUT, so be sure to purchase tickets early.